Animas River, Colorado - HUGE Environmental Disaster!!!

[jcazgoldchaser]

If you frequent the waters of the Animas, an EPA accident has released 1 million gallons of mining waste into the waterway.
Animas River fouled by 1 million gallons of contaminated mine water - The Denver Post

The La Plata County Sheriff's Office has closed the river from the San Juan County line – including Durango – to New Mexico. Authorities say they will re-evaluate the closure once the EPA tests are confirmed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/us/wastewater-spill-in-colorado-turns-a-river-yellow.html?_r=0
The EPA spilled 1 million gallons of waste water - Business Insider

Be safe out there!!

 

[russau]

From what ive read in the paper this morning , the finger pointing has started and probly will NEVER find anyone guilty of negligence because of this "accident" that will rpobly give this environment cleanup group several more millions of our tax dollars for future years of cleanup because of their responsibility for the breach of their containment dam. its just another story of one group scratching anothers back for our tax dollars!

 

[russau]

From what ive read in the paper this morning , the finger pointing has started and probly will NEVER find anyone guilty of negligence because of this "accident" that will rpobly give this environment cleanup group several more millions of our tax dollars for future years of cleanup because of their responsibility for the breach of their containment dam. its just another story of one group scratching anothers back for our tax dollars!

Just goes to show you how far these AHs will go to rape our gubermint of tax dollars!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Saw last night that the head of the EPA wants a independent investigation now. Seems that they've had just enough time to get their story straight. I get the feeling that someone is going to be offered up as a sacrificial goat to appease the public. Might not be the actual person responsible but the sheeple will get their wish for heads to roll.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Boat load of Salts in are waterways fish doin fine, nitrate's of all sorts.
but like ya said: Never let facts get in the way of a good story

You mentioned nitrates, Burlington, Colorado just got fined $1M for having nitrates in their water. Probably need the money to help pay NM and CO in the lawsuits coming against the EPA....

 

[Clay Diggins]

You mentioned nitrates, Burlington, Colorado just got fined $1M for having nitrates in their water. Probably need the money to help pay NM and CO in the lawsuits coming against the EPA....

If New Mexico successfully sues it won't be for polluted water. Their own Environmental Quality Department can't find any evidence of the spill. These are the results from the day the "contamination" arrived:

General river hydrology and additional NMED Groundwater and Surface Water samples indicated that it is highly likely that wells have not been affected by this event.

NMED received the second round of data from SWQB sampling from three water quality stations on the Animas and San Juan rivers. All values indicated compliance with surface water standards.

You can download the results from the State and the private testing company they hired HERE. They are still testing daily but they haven't found any change yet.

Heavy Pans

 

[Ponchosportal]

You mentioned nitrates, Burlington, Colorado just got fined $1M for having nitrates in their water. Probably need the money to help pay NM and CO in the lawsuits coming against the EPA....

Point of clarification: The internet says the million dollar fine was from the state of Colorado not EPA.

"Did you hear about the town on Colorado's eastern plains, Burlington, that failed to notify the residents for about eighteen months that the nitrate levels in the public water supply were elevated above safe levels? The state is fining them a million dollars for failing to follow state regulations and notify the locals and the state of violations of water quality."

Supposedly residents were not notified of high nitrate levels for over 18 months.

 

[fowledup]

When any agency is sued it's the tax payer that loses and pays, plain and simple. There is no lesson learned from these bogus hand slaps. Nothing comes out of the perpetrators pocket. Until such a time as these AH's start serving prison terms or personally pay the fines nothing will change, what is the deterent or incentive to stop? They are idealistic zealots no different than a terrorist.

 

[2cmorau]

Salt nitrates (natural in the environment) no more a polutant then CO2
yup tax payer suffers the idiots or the EPA

 

[Mad Machinist]

My BIG question in all of this is as follows:

If the EPA says there was no major pollution and the "contaminant" levels are below safe limits and none of the State Agencies can find any evidence of "contaminates" along with no major effects on any of the wildlife, then exactly why in the flying nine he!!s was the EPA even there poking their noses around? if a release of a million gallons of water or more cannot raise the "contaminant" levels above safe levels, then was there really any need for the "treatment" to begin with?

Without any solid examples of this spill causing harm, we have what looks like a rather serious case of the EPA once again faking evidence to begin with (the original plugs) in order to force their will on people. And some wonder why there are so many of us calling for the EPA to be disbanded.

 

[Nitric]

My BIG question in all of this is as follows:

If the EPA says there was no major pollution and the "contaminant" levels are below safe limits and none of the State Agencies can find any evidence of "contaminates" along with no major effects on any of the wildlife, then exactly why in the flying nine he!!s was the EPA even there poking their noses around? if a release of a million gallons of water or more cannot raise the "contaminant" levels above safe levels, then was there really any need for the "treatment" to begin with?

Without any solid examples of this spill causing harm, we have what looks like a rather serious case of the EPA once again faking evidence to begin with (the original plugs) in order to force their will on people. And some wonder why there are so many of us calling for the EPA to be disbanded.

sadly? They will twist it to the public as ....because they got involved they dropped the levels that fast! So, it could be twisted to gain more support. and people will believe!

 

[timberjack]

I just heard gina macarty do an interveiw on NPR (national propaganda raido)....it was hard to listen to the epa infomertial,,,,but,,,,of course ,,,,,in her words the root cause of the spill by her thinking was the hard working epa made a mistake (they are not quite sure how yet-extensive investigation to follow)trying to clean up legacy polution left over from early mining and of course they will need more funding to continue their good deeds aimed at protecting us.
I think the facts as laid out in this thread are clear, but, the average person who hears this interview (propaganda, lies) will think the epa is working hard to clean up a mes those evil miners left behinde.......we live in interesting and difficult times.......we have to spread the truth

 

[KevinInColorado]

To your point Timberjack, this is a good example of how garbled the "facts" are which you receive via news channels. My wife and I used to be very active in our community (at press covered meetings and events all the time) and we were amazed at how consistently the reporting was just wrong! The average reporter knows how to tell a story but has no clue on the topic. Since they don't really understand the topic, they can't understand what is happening or what is actually important to report on!

PS this was true of BOTH the conservative and the liberal newspapers in town and ALL TV stations. Sad truth. You have to find your own experts to learn the truth (like Clay Diggins here)

 

[goldenIrishman]

As Clay posted earlier, the local efforts to clean up the creek had already shown a marked improvement. Then the EPA shows up and starts playing their games all in an effort to get the area designated as a super fund site. The locals had been fighting them on that for years because they didn't want it effecting tourism in the area. Their local efforts were working WITHOUT any help from the EPA.

Well.... Now the EPA has a major media problem on their hands and are scrambling to cover their assets and keep their jobs. I still find it strange (not really as it's business as usual) that Gina McC waits so long to call for an independent investigation into what happened. The longer it takes to get the investigation going, the longer they have to cover their tracks.

Another spinoff from this is that every eco-group is using this as more "proof" that mining is a bad thing. I've seen several posts on other sources to this effect in the last week. Every single one of these posts is spouting the same old B.S. and twisted science that they've been attempting to use for years now. Isn't it funny how the EPA screws up and the Eco-groups still point the finger at miners? I'm wondering how long it will be until they start filing cases against the EPA in an effort to get more of our tax dollars through "Sue and Settle" like they've been using against the Forest Service for years.

 

[Nitric]

To your point Timberjack, this is a good example of how garbled the "facts" are which you receive via news channels. My wife and I used to be very active in our community (at press covered meetings and events all the time) and we were amazed at how consistently the reporting was just wrong! The average reporter knows how to tell a story but has no clue on the topic. Since they don't really understand the topic, they can't understand what is happening or what is actually important to report on!

PS this was true of BOTH the conservative and the liberal newspapers in town and ALL TV stations. Sad truth. You have to find your own experts to learn the truth (like Clay Diggins here)

I never paid much attention until the last elections to anything! After watching the media, it did a couple of things, made me not watch anymore and head in a path of trying to understand people and society. You can put every fact in front of most people and they will still believe what someone else told them to believe. In a lot of cases! If the right wording, enough time,repetition, the people will still believe the EPA(in this case) is on our side. It's too far ingrained! Scary but true! And I hope I'm wrong! People need to question everything! To get the answers! And Yes Clay Diggins is awesome for this. He gives the answers to questions along with the information, so that you can go look for yourself to check. I learned a ton in this thread alone!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Keep political rhetoric not directly related to topic out of posts please, we have a political forum for that....

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Point of clarification: The internet says the million dollar fine was from the state of Colorado not EPA.

"Did you hear about the town on Colorado's eastern plains, Burlington, that failed to notify the residents for about eighteen months that the nitrate levels in the public water supply were elevated above safe levels? The state is fining them a million dollars for failing to follow state regulations and notify the locals and the state of violations of water quality."

Supposedly residents were not notified of high nitrate levels for over 18 months.

I heard on the radio (news) about the fine and they said EPA fined them. I had not had a chance to see what the news on the internet said. Thanks for the correction. Of course, Burlington says they cannot pay it, so can the State help them out....

 

[Mad Machinist]

Keep political rhetoric not directly related to topic out of posts please, we have a political forum for that....

Not yelling at me I hope.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Naw... That was for me Mad. I guess I didn't clarify my statements enough to pass muster. I didn't really feel that they were all that political myself as it was in agreement with another post and I was merely expanding on it. That being said, unless there's some major new news on this subject I'm only going to observe for a while.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Not yelling at me I hope.

Wasn't directed at you but at Irishman.

 

[2cmorau]

PS this was true of BOTH the conservative and the liberal newspapers in town and ALL TV stations. Sad truth. You have to find your own experts to learn the truth
Bull